Note:
some of the language, references & attitudes, while acceptable at the time they
were written, are not Politically Correct, today.

Summary:

No
official summary was ever provided with any of the old Tom Swift books. However,
without giving too much away, the plot can be summed up as follows:

There is
an oft repeated formula to this story. I wonder if some higher authority set it
down or if it was just endlessly re-invented. War has come to Shopton. We begin
with Our All-American Hero being maligned for malingering. Tom has not gone down
to the local Army Recruiter and volunteered to become Bayonet Bait. As a matter
of fact, he has actually appealed (to the President of the US, no less) for an
exemption from military duty. Even his closest chum, Ned Newton speculates that
he could be a "slacker." To compound this, he has gone all secretive about what
he is doing in a large fenced-in yard that has been built on the Swift property.
There are strange noises coming from the yard and German spies snuffling around
everywhere, to boot...

All is
not lost, as after about 50 pages of this nonsense, it is revealed that Tom has
put his intellect to work at building a bigger, better, stronger and faster
armored dragon to go slay the enemies of the Allies. War Tank A is
revealed, and then the real fun begins. Espionage, subterfuge, assault,
kidnapping and grand theft, are all on the menu. How and if the Good Guys
prevail are all in the story available on line at:
Tom Swift and His War Tank

Mr. Wakefield Damon-Elderly
& eccentric adventurer and traveling companion of Tom & Ned, whose main purpose
in life seems to be blessing everybody and everything near his person.

Koku-Giant manservant of Tom. Devoted, loyal, and
possessed of great strength, but apparently somewhat limited mental facilities.
Antagonist and rival of Eradicate.

Barton
Swift-Widower.
Wealthy and conservative. Inventor master machinist and holder of numerous
patents. Mr. Swift, has failed in his health of late, and much ado is made of
his advanced age. Previously a doomsayer, he now seems to be able to assist Tom
in developing details of his new war machine.

The Bearded Stranger-Later
determined to be Blakeson (NFN) of Blakeson & Grinder, a construction
firm that tried to sabotage efforts to build the Big Tunnel in a previous
episode (#19)

Ned Newton-Chum
& constant companion of Tom. Currently back to clerking at a Shopton bank. Has
given up his position as Swifts' financial manager to sell Liberty Bonds in
support of the war effort.

Eradicate Sampson, A.K.A. Rad-Aged
stereotypical Negro manservant given over to the ravages of advanced age.
Ex-Civil War era slave. Constant antagonist of Koku. In this episode, old and
feeble. His faithful mule Boomerang, also getting old and cranky, helps
corral a German spy.

Mr. (Amos) Nestor
ñ Mary's father. No description given, except he smokes cigars. Amos remains
excitable and is continuing to jump to negative conclusions about Tom, in spite
of having been saved by him in both the Wireless Message and Wizard
Camera adventures. In this tome, he speculates that Tom is a "slacker." Our
Hero has not volunteered to don khaki and Go Get Killed, as all the "sensible"
able-bodied males in town have done. Mary's mother has never been described or
named, and is not even given passing mention in this tale.

Miss Mary Nestor-Love
interest of Tom. Plucky, courageous, intelligent and apparently engaged to Our
Hero, although no direct mention is made of this momentous condition.

Jennie Morse-No
description given. Friend of Mary Nestor, and soon to be married.

Mrs.
Baggert-Housekeeper.
Kindly, and "loves Tom like a son." Employed by the Swift family for 15+ years
at the time of this story. She is short of stature and has to stand on a soap
box to kiss Tom goodbye on one of his voyages.

Miles-NFN or description. Loyal Swift Construction
employee.

Harry Telford-Shopton
youth. Caught snooping at Tom's Tank by Ned Newton. Last seen running scared in
the general direction of his home...

Carl Schwen-No description given. Employed by Swift
Construction as one of Tom's best machinists. German National caught spying
by Eradicate, and given over to the tender mercies of the irascible Boomerang.
Currently in custody.

Otto Kuhn-Swift employee who spies in collusion with Schwen,
above. Currently in custody.

Crossleigh-NFN
or description. Fourth spy-passing mention. At large.

Tom's Tank Crew:

Hank Baldwin-No Description. Chief tank mechanician.

The Little Englishman-No name or description. Knows about
British tanks.

A "large carburetor" is under development, that will allow alcohol, kerosene
or gasoline to be used in an IC engine at will. (See Errata.)

"War Tank A" A bigger, better, faster & heavier Juggernaut than those
in current use on the front lines. Twice the speed (12mph vs. 6mph) better
traction due to increased weight (more than 42 tons) and able to leap a 20ft
trench (as opposed to 12ft) at a single bound, by use of an-onboard bridging
mechanism. It is powered by twin gasoline engines (See Errata) and has
innovations such as dual steering systems, solid suspension and electrical
communications between control & engine compartments. Large enough to carry
"several" riflemen in addition to crew, it also has rudimentary living
arrangements "in case of breakdown in no-man's land." Armaments limited to 4
machine guns: port & starboard, & fore and aft, and armor proof against a
"Bertha Shell" or a "Jack Johnson." (See Attitudes.) Also capable of remote
control by wireless.

Commentary on Society, Attitudes, Environment &
Errata

Reading the old Tom Swift Sr. series has really given me an appreciation of
all the modern gadgets that I've come to take for granted. It also has given me
a grasp of just how technologically and culturally unsophisticated the average
reader was in the early 1900's.

Attitudes and Prejudices-

Weapons
of mass destruction-1917 style. The "Bertha shell" references a cannon named "Big
Bertha," named after Gustav Krupp's wife.This state of the art howitzer weighed 43 tons, and
threw a truly impressive (for the era) 2,200 lb shell
over 9 miles.

Big Bertha
Howitzer
Jack Johnson, ca 1915

Jack Johnson, was the first black heavyweight champion of the world. His
reign lasted from 1908 to 1915. He was also the first African American pop
culture icon, and was photographed more than any other black man of his day. His
name was synonymous with a "knockout punch."

I've
concluded that Mr. Nestor is bipolar. One minute, Tom is a no-good slacker and
the next he's "a wonder." I'm thinking he may be the Mother of all
Father-in-laws...?

We are
back to the British spelling of gasolene and clew. I'll have to assign nicknames
to the various ghost writers that concoct these stories and keep score, like I
have with Mr. D's hometown. This one is hereinafter called "The Brit."

War fever
comes to Shopton. In this tale, the Germans are now "The Bad Guys." They are
described with the pejorative names "boches," "fritzes," or "huns." It is now "the European War," reflecting America's still-not-quite-involved attitude.

Interesting note that Tom can go haring cross-country in his tank chewing up
pastures, firing machine guns and demolishing buildings with abandon (or
permission.) Seems it was easier to ask forgiveness, than get permission, even
then...and just pay damages if anyone objected. Can you imagine having a
thousand dollars for "pocket money" in 1917 dollars? Poor little rich kid...

Errata-
Mr. Damon
is first relegated to residing "in a nearby town." (After four books in a row in
Waterford, NY, the author apparently forgot where he lived in the
previous volume.) This tale moves him back to Waterfield, making the
current tally of his many moves between Waterford and Waterfield
stand at 11-Waterfield, 4-not recorded or confused, and 9-Waterford, for 21
volumes, to date. The numbers don't total, because two volumes have him
residing in both places at the same time. Four others (including this
one) either do not specify a town name, or have multiple references that change.

Engineering and Science, Fact vs. Fantasy-

Spiral Turns: Hawk apparently has newly discovered larger rear
stabilizer planes. The early models of "aeroplanes" had woefully inadequate
vertical and horizontal stabilizer surface areas. If the craft got into any
extreme attitude, loss of control was almost guaranteed. Any pilot who wanted to
die of old age (and many didn't) stayed out of violent aerobatic maneuvers, even
one as tame as a "spiral turn." War changed all that.

Tank Troubles: Yes, tanks started out gasoline powered. Not for long,
though. Les Boches found out rather quickly that gasoline vapors make
pretty short work of Allied tank crew when sparked by even a simple rifle shot
placed in the right spot. Then, there's the old leaky fuel line plus confined
space plus smoke-'em-if-you-got-'em combination. The equation equals "poof-crispy critters in a can." Diesel engines were not long in coming, as it
is harder to get Diesel vapors to explode. Also, it is easier (and cheaper) to
refine Diesel fuel.

The above image shows some of the acrobatics that early tanks were capable
of. Tom & Co. do a spiral roll in War Tank A, to right it after
"turning turtle," by driving it up an embankment at an angle. With a solid,
un-sprung suspension! Considering the crew was rattling around loose inside the
can, unrestrained except for grab rings, I think WW1 era soldiers were made of
pretty stern stuff. You begin to wonder who suffered more, our guys or the
enemy...

Carburetors for multiple fuels: Can be done, but Rube Goldberg would
be proud of the result. The energy content of gasoline vs. kerosene vs. alcohol
dictate dramatically different fuel flow rates, plus the "safe" aspect of
Diesel ( it is hard to explode) makes using a carburetor counterproductive. Fuel
injection (not invented for a few years, yet) is the way to go for this set up.

Armor: Tom's tank is said to be built to stand up to a "Bertha
Shell." 2200lbs of high explosive, armor piercing artillery would make short
work of even a Swift-built crawler. The only way possible to survive one of
these was to not be there when it arrived, or hope that the German gunners were
poor shots. Not good odds, in my book.

Geography- Shopton is now home to
Grant Army Base, where "bird-men" are being trained to fly. There is a new town
named Sackett, nearby (I'm going to have to start on a Shopton county map,
too...) as is "Tinkle Creek." We also find out that Swift Construction Co.
actually makes things besides Tom's toys. Their manufactory produces "aeroplanes, submarines and tunnel diggers." (Most sub-building firms are
located on ocean coasts-I wonder if there are U-Boats in Lake Carlopa???)